??then we have to be quite worried. I am thankfully sheltered from CNN at home in London (the joy of terrestrial TV, and choosing your news sources on the internet) but come across it from time to time on my travels and never cease to be shocked what a heady […]
Recent Posts
The ending of youth – now even in political terms
Each and every one of us has to cross the bridge at some point. From the security in the relative innocence of youth, we traverse to arrive in the hard world of adult life and realise all of what we have been ‘building’ for years actually counts for very little. […]
The End of Faith
Some sort of deep scepticism about religion – not in terms of definition of whether God exists, but rather a concern about the institutions of religion – has been growing in my thoughts for some years. The book “The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason” by […]
Glorious Britain? Don’t think so
I am on my way out of London for a fortnight. I have been looking forward to this escape so much, and my determination to get away has been hugely amplified by the total mess that is Heathrow Airport, Terminal 3 on a Friday afternoon. It is beyond me how […]
The NHS – almost too swift?
I wrote about my first experiences of the NHS in Lambeth / Clapham in a post a little while ago. Referral to the minor surgery clinic in Grantham Road, Stockwell, took a little more than a week to sort out, and getting the appointment made was very swift.
Fat people in the air, luggage and duty free [UPDATED, 29.07.2005]
Following on from my other post about getting on planes… What are we supposed to do about other problems that afflict flying, namely luggage allocations, overweight passengers, and duty free?
Fear on the Tube
It’s quite a horrid place at the best of times, but travel on the London Underground has become really more fraught than ever now. This article from BBC News Online is an excellent summary of how people are feeling, and how odd the situation can become. I have a particular […]
London attacks – we must not lose our heads [UPDATED, 25.07.2005]
"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…"Rudyard Kipling, 1910 Never before have those words seemed so apt. For my fear today is that the country is starting to lose its head in its reaction to the second round of attempted bombings (21st July) and […]
Boris Johnson and the world of UK & EU political blogs
It seems that blogging has not really taken off in UK politics yet. Boris Johnson, now free from the mistress and the work he had to put in on the Conservative front bench has given it a go though, and in typical style his comments about how the UK should […]
British obsessions: plastic bags
I think UK supermarkets must be almost unique in Europe – they try to give you extra free plastic bags for your shopping, even when you don’t want them! In the rest of Europe, the situation is the opposite. The state needs to do something about it. I was behind […]
Blogging to Make Poverty History. Well, we should do a little bit…
It’s been an excellent campaign – I don’t know if anything has in recent times managed to capture the imagination of the UK population as the Make Poverty History Campaign has. And above all, their website campaign has been cool too – have a look at their banners page and […]
The frustrations of summer skating
Feeling a bit athletic and having a free weekend in London, I decided it might be a nice idea to go for a skate. Problem is that skating in London is really restricted and I wonder what could be done to improve it.